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Dawn of War II/Techmarine/Strategy
This is written for patch 2.6.0 balance. Overview The Techmarine is a ranged damage specialist best suited for defensive play (as in, let the enemy come to you instead of charging in). He has a gun for every unit type (light infantry, heavy infantry, vehicles), can tank a lot of damage with the right upgrades and can stun vehicles with grenades. He can also construct turrets and reinforcement beacons on the field. The Techmarine can repair vehicles and buildings, so he synergizes well with vehicle-centered builds. The Techmarine's starting ranged damage (35 DPS piercing) is the highest of any starting weapon and basically equals one unupgraded Tactical Squad. This makes him strong in early engagements, especially against low-health infantry. He will beat weak ranged units in melee, but not much else. Techmarines typically favor ranged units and will go for either two Tactical Squads or Tactical + Devastator for T1, sometimes even two Tacticals + Devastator for a heavy opening. However, getting a Tactical + Assault isn't that rare either, especially when the opponent can probably counter Devastators well. In T2, vehicles (Razorback or Dreadnought) and Plasma Cannon Devastators are a common choice. For T3, a Techmarine might pick the Venerable Dreadnought instead of Terminators. Teleporter Relay Beacon This beacon works as a retreat (Fall Back) point for allied infantry, has a healing aura and allows reinforcing squads. It can be useful (especially in team games and on very large maps), but the cost of will also set back your tech and unit purchases. Furthermore, sometimes the Relays become death traps when cornered with enemy suppression/artillery units. Bad players keep retreating to the Relay and panic-reinforcing their doomed squads until their economy is bankrupt and all their units dead. Tarantula Turret The eternal favorite of new/unskilled players, this turret is basically a Devastator Squad that cannot be tied up, but cannot move either. It is again and again overused by new players, who ruin their economy by building multiple turrets ( each) and get forever stuck in Tier 1 while the opponent focuses on the rest of the map and techs to artillery or vehicles to wipe the turrets effortlessly. Poorly placed turrets just get taken out by flanking or jump troops during T1. Building a single suppression turret may work if you consider what the opponent can/will do about it and how you can prevent that. It must be placed carefully, however, and usually needs infantry support. The turret has a T2 missile launcher upgrade, which does pretty high damage to vehicles but remains immobile so it is rarely seen. Wargear Master-Crafted Bolter The T1 weapon of choice against light infantry armies (Eldar, Orks, and Tyranids unless they go heavy on Warriors; maybe even Chaos if they spam Heretics), the MCB is a great weapon. The base damage increase over the default bolter is small, but the ability (180 sniper damage on one model and suppress the target unit) will cause lots of attrition and counters melee pretty nicely. Very good purchase. Plasma Gun An insanely effective heavy infantry counter, this is the most common Techmarine weapon, especially good against Space Marines, Chaos with multiple CSM squads, and Tyranids when they get either Warriors or Tyrant Guard. The ability will do massive damage to any heavy infantry unit. Note that this includes Terminators, the Avatar and the Great Unclean One. The Plasma Gun is especially effective combined with a Tactical Squad with their Plasma Gun upgrade and the Signum Armor. Consecrated Bolter This bolter is a somewhat poor choice, as it offers little over the standard weapon, costs a lot, and isn't available until T2. The ability grants a significant damage boost to allied units, but the radius is small which forces you to blob your army very closely, which you really don't want to do in T2. Meltagun A short-range anti-everything weapon, the Meltagun does good damage to heavy infantry but not so much as the Plasma Gun and the range is bad. It can be a good purchase when you need some extra anti-vehicle firepower (say against a melee walker vehicle) but don't want (or don't have the time) to buy a new unit. The Meltagun would most likely be paired with the Orbs accessory. Signum also works well, and buying the Meltagun and the Tac Missile Launcher (instead of a Devastator Squad with the Lascannon, for example) may prove a very effective vehicle counter. Artificer Armor An excellent T1 purchase, this armor is relatively cheap and makes the Techmarine extremely hard to kill. Can be combined with Refractor Field for ridiculous tankiness. A main feature are the Proximity Mines, which should be spammed liberally once you buy the armor. If the opponent is skipping their detector unit, the mines can cause enormous problems for them. Bionics A less frequently used armor, Bionics is inexpensive and grants an ability that knocks away nearby units, dealing some damage in the process. You would mostly get this in T1 against an opponent going for multiple melee units (Hormagaunt spam or the like) – the damage will actually hurt low-health infantry quite a bit. Can also be used to force melee enemy ranged units then Powerful Sweep them for good disruption. Signum Armor The typical mid to late game choice, especially in team games where more firepower is available, this grants the powerful Mark Target ability that makes a unit take 50% more damage (both ranged and melee) for 10 seconds. This will own pretty much anything when you can focus some fire at it. Orbs of the Omnissiah Grants grenades that disable vehicles and drain energy. This is a typical walker vehicle counter for the Techmarine, but it's actually more versatile than that. The energy drain applies to infantry units as well, so it will also screw up heroes (especially ones with an energy shield) and units like Bloodletters, which really need their energy to be effective. Refractor Shield The energy shield option for the Techmarine, this makes him really (really) durable with Artificer Armor. Still not as frequently needed as the Orbs. Category:Dawn of War II multiplayer unit subpages